Commonly known identification systems use a reader device which emits an interrogation signal such that a proximate identification tag returns an identification signal to the reader. Known types of identification tags include passive non-electronic, e.g., bar coded, tags which are visually identified by the reader according to an imprinted pattern. Such tags and systems for manufacturing such tags via an essentially continuous process have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,504 to Peterson et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,716 to Mosher, Jr., both of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Such systems require that the bar code be visible, i.e., within the line-of-sight of the reader.
RFID (radio frequency identification) tags are also well known which respond to a radio frequency transmission from a reader to cause the tag to return an electronic signal to the reader. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,805 to Penuela shows a flexible wrist band mounting a memory chip or tag which can be accessed via a radio frequency signal and U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,072 to Beigel shows exemplary circuitry for an RFID tag.